scroll down for some of our recent cultural inspirations*, along with upcoming exhibitions and events on our cultural radar**​*UK contemporary arts exhibitions and events (mostly) focused around sound and moving image**PLEASE NOTE:many of the current, and forthcoming, exhibitions and events listed below may now be closed or cancelled.​In the meantime take a look at our new ART & MUSIC ONLINEwebpage

Steve McQueenTate Modern, 13 February - 11 May 2020

The first major exhibition of his work in London since he won the Turner Prize in 1999, featuring 14 major works spanning film, photography and sculpture. Find out more here...​

Among the TreesHayward Gallery, London, 4 March - 17 May 2020

By drawing attention to the beauty, scale and complexity of trees and forests, the 38 artists in this exhibition turn our vision of the natural world on its head, inviting us to see it with new eyes...find out more here​

AND SAY THE ANIMAL RESPONDED?​FACT, Liverpool, 20 March - 14 June 2020

And Say the Animal Responded? presents work by five international artist/artist groups who have captured animal voices through the use of human technology. Find out more here...​

ElectronicThe Design Museum, London, 1 April - 26 July 2020

Throw yourself into the hypnotic world of electronic music and discover its global impact from underground movements to the mainstream....read more here​

Ray Harryhausen - Titan of CinemaScottish National Gallery Of Modern Art (Modern Two), Edinburgh, 23 May - 25 October 2020

Film special effects superstar Ray Harryhausen elevated stop motion animation to an art during the 1950s to 1980s. For the first time, highlights from Ray’s collection will be showcased, which will be the largest and widest-ranging exhibition of his work ever seen, with newly restored and previously unseen material from his incredible archive.​ Find out more here...​

A group exhibition that brings together 14 international visual artists who work with sound as their primary medium. Inviting visitors to listen to rather than just look at art​...find out more here

Liverpool Biennial 2020: The Stomach and the PortVarious venues and public spaces around Liverpool, 11 July - 25 October 2020

Liverpool Biennial is the UK’s largest festival of contemporary visual art. The 11th edition, The Stomach and the Port, explores notions of the body and ways of connecting with the world. More than 50 international artists are taking part...read more here​

Elizabeth Price: A LONG MEMORYWhitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Bringing together many new and acclaimed works, this exhibition engages with Price’s pre-occupations of technology, history, politics and pop music. A new trilogy of video works, SLOW DANS, will be premiered...read more here​

Nam June PaikTate Modern

This major retrospective will feature work from throughout Paik's five-decade career – from robots made from old TV screens, to his innovative video works and all-encompassing room-sized installations such as the dazzling Sistine Chapel 1993. Find out more here...

Other Spaces and TRANSFORMER: A Rebirth Of Wonder180 The Strand, London

Mark Leckey: O' Magic Power of BleaknessTate Britain

Composed of new and existing work this exhibition 'is an atmospheric, theatrical experience of spectral visions, sound and video...' read more here​

Olafur Eliasson: In real lifeTate Modern

A 45-metre tunnel of blinding fog through which less than a handful of people are able to walk at any given time is now installed at the Tate Modern as part of an exhibition by the artist Olafur Eliasson. The exhibition brings together more than 30 works from nearly three decades of Eliasson’s works....read more here​

modern and contemporary art meanderingsA visual record of some of the modern and contemporary art exhibitions we've been to over the last few years...follow the link to the blog via the image below

Shezad Dawood: LeviathanBluecoat, Liverpool

Shezad Dawood’s epic film series Leviathan came to Bluecoat in summer 2019 as part of a season examining society and migration....read more here​

Stanley Kubrick: The ExhibitionThe Design Museum, London

Stanley Kubrick: The Exhibition offered an insight into the director's vast archive through original props and costumes, set models and rare photographs, while tracing the design story behind Kubrick’s body of work. His fascination with all aspects of design and architecture influenced every stage of all his films. Read a review here...

Mimesis: African SoldierImperial War Museum, London

John Akomfrah's new multimedia installation remembers the millions of Africans and people of colour from across the globe who fought and took part in the First World War.​ Find out more here​

Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho: News From NowhereTate Liverpool

South Korean artists Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho’s new film commission 'Anomaly Strolls 2018' is an extension of their project News From Nowhere 2009, and uses science fiction to question the role and importance of art to our present day society...read more here

Haroon Mirza: reality is somehow what we expect it to beIKON, Birmingham

The most comprehensive exhibition of work by Haroon Mirza in the UK to date (March 2019), that filled the IKON’s exhibition spaces with moving imagery, sculptural installation and electronic sound. Read more here...​

Penny Woolcock: Fantastic CitiesModern Art Oxford

Fantastic Cities was the first major art exhibition of artist and director Penny Woolcock (b. 1950, Buenos Aires). As well as bringing together pivotal works from the artist’s career since 2015, the exhibition presented three new moving-image commissions...read more here​

Charlotte Prodger's 'Bridgit' Turner Prize, Tate Britain, London

2018's Turner Prize winner's short film made using an iPhone...read more here​

Christian Marclay: The ClockTate Modern, London

A long time favourite work - see theAnintroduction to artist moving image post below - this 24-hours long installation is a montage of thousands of film and television images of clocks, edited together so they show the actual time. As the Tate website suggests, it's 'a thrilling journey through cinematic history as well as a functioning timepiece'! Read more here...​

Strange Days: Memories of the Future​The Store X, 180 The Strand, London

Vinyl Factory’s latest collaboration with New York's New Museum presents a greatest-hits selection of video works shown at the museum in the last decade - watch the trailer by selecting the imageaboveor find out more here​

Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary ArtGalleries and public spaces across Liverpool (2018)

Francis Alÿs: Knots’n Dust​Ikon Gallery, Birmingham

Ever since his brilliant retrospective at Tate Modern in 2010 , Francis Alÿs has been a long-time favourite of two of MediaActive's Directors - this exhibition reflected the artist's long-term interest in current affairs in the Middle East and his frequent travelling to that part of the world, especially Iraq and Afghanistan. Featuring new work in a mix of animation, drawing, film, painting and photography - find out more about Francis Alÿs here​

Isaac Julien: Ten Thousand WavesWhitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Rooted in the Morecambe Bay tragedy of 2004, in which 23 Chinese cockle-pickers drowned off the coast in northwest England, this cinematic multi-screen installation explores contemporary experiences of desire, loss and separation...find out more about the work here...​

We realy enjoyed Rosalind Nashashibi's two films at the 2017 Turner Prize in Hull - the gentle, reflective, visually sumptuous 'Vivian's Garden' along with the equal visually rich, but complex and multi-layered, 'Electrical Gaza' - you can find out more about the two films and Rosalind's work here.

Everything at Once Store Studios, 180 The Strand, London

To celebrate their 50th anniversary London's Lisson Gallery, in partnership with The Vinyl Factory, staged EVERYTHING AT ONCE, a group exhibition (see right-hand image above) inspired by John Cage's comment: “Nowadays everything happens at once and our souls are conveniently electronic (omniattentive).”. To find out more read here...​

LLAWN05Various public spaces, Llandudno

LLAWN is a free arts festival that celebrates and explores the North Wales seaside resort of Llandudno through art, artefact, sound, comedy, performance and participation. Our good friends TAPE were also involved in the festival screening 'Creature Features' (above image) at The Tabernacle. To find out more about LLAWN read here...in partnership with TAPE, MediaActive curated the 2018 Film Programme for LLAWN #06 - find out more via our Anim18 page on this website

Mat Collishaw: ThresholdsBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery

Using the latest in VR technology, Thresholds re-staged one of the earliest exhibitions of photography...read more here

Altered Landscapes is an immersive multimedia installation; a combination of video, photography, light and sound are used to trace the journeys of migrants and refugees across Europe. Juan delGado was awarded an INSIDE commission from New Art Exchange and DASH. INSIDE is a Disability Arts commissioning programme led by our wonderful near-neighbours DASH.Find out more about Altered Landscapes here...​

Fish Storya short film Directed by Charlie Lyne

Sometime in the 1980s, Caspar Salmon's grandmother was invited to a gathering on the Welsh island of Anglesey, attended exclusively by people with fish surnames. Or so he says. Thirty years later, filmmaker Charlie Lyne attempts to sort myth from reality. We first saw this at this year's Flatpack Film Festival; and we loved it! Select the image above to view...

William Kentridge: Thick Time Exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery

An exhibition by the South African artist William Kentridge - Kentridge is known for his animated expressionist drawings and films exploring time, the history of colonialism and the aspirations and failures of revolutionary politics...Read a review here OR have a look at some more images and video clips 'captured' from our visit to the exhibition on our visual arts blog here

THE INFINITE MIX Sound and Image in Contemporary Video180 The Strand, London

Taking place at The Store, a new creative space at 180 The Strand, THE INFINITE MIX brings together major audio-visual artworks from ten leading international artists. For more info read hereFor a review of the show read here

Ragnar KjartanssonSolo exhibition by the Icelandic artist at the Barbican Art Gallery

Bringing together live performance, music, film, painting, sculpture and drawing, a solo exhibition from the internationally acclaimed Icelandic artist Ragnar Kjartansson - for more info read here For more images (etc) 'captured' from our visit to the exhibition have a look at our visual arts blog - link above (modern and contemporary art meanderings)

We’re Here Because We’re HereJeremy Deller’s eerily moving commemoration of the soldiers of the Somme

In collaboration with Rufus Norris, the artistic director of the National Theatre in London, and theatres throughout the UK, Deller created a ‘human memorial’ of the first world war battle, sending silent soldiers into cities and towns across the UK. To watch a video related to the project select the left-hand image above and to find out more read here

Sculpting Time: Andrei Tarkovsky retrospective

Screening from new digital prints, the Russian filmmaker's ground-breaking seven films were screened at selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland from Mid-2016. For more info and to watch the gorgeous trailer for Sculpting Time select the above image.

Bill Viola at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park An exhibition by the American video and installation artist Bill Viola at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Developed in collaboration with Viola, this was the most extensive exhibition in the UK by the artist for over 10 years - for more information about the exhibition have a look here For more info about Bill Viola have a look at Artsy’s Bill Viola page

Independent Cinema Office Screening DayA couple of members of the team, along with two of our Adventures' Young Programmers, went to the Independent Cinema Office's Autumn Screening Days at The Broadway in Nottingham - these were our stand-out films...

'An Introduction to Artists' Moving Image' We put together a 70 minute 'Introduction to Artists' Moving Image' - aimed at young people (15-25 years old) - images from some of our favourite favourite's below...

Golem at the Young VicThe MediaActive Team went to see Golem at London's Young Vic - A 1927 / Young Vic production, created by 1927. The latter are an experimental theatre company 'experimenting with what happens when performance, live music with animation come together...'. Have a look at the Golem Trailer here